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I have found an interesting pattern recently, and I wonder if this is simply my experience, or a more broad common experience. I find several types of teachers / administrators to be in the educational environment.

Teaching from the Gut – There seem to be many teachers out there that have some innate, natural sense of “this is the right thing to do for XYZ child or classroom” They are phenomenal teachers, they do amazing instruction, and are quality educators, but they cannot explain to you WHY the things they do are the right educational pedagogy.

Teaching from the Gut, with reason – There are other educators, who not only have the aforementioned ability to naturally do the “right thing” in the classroom, like the above instructors, but when you ask them, “Why did you do that?” or “What did you want the student to learn from this activity?” they can tell you exactly why and or what. This is fantastic. Not only does the educator do the right thing for their students, but they have moved up Bloom’s Taxonomy and have understanding in addition to knowledge.

The only “deficiency” these instructors may have is that they can only use common language, not all of the “educational buzzwords” to explain their actions. One might ask “are you doing data-driven instruction in your classroom?” and this kind of teacher may reply, “No, I am just marking check marks on this clipboard which ones of my students can’t, can with some difficulty, or can easily color within the lines.” Brothers & sisters, let me tell you, if one of the “things you wanted the student to learn from the activity” [e.g. learning objective] was to “practice coloring inside the lines” [e.g. demonstrate small motor skills] then your marks on clipboard are data! Moreover, if you look at the check marks on your clipboard and realize “little Johnny” has been struggling with “coloring in the lines” for a while, and then try to do something to help little Johnny learn how to color in the lines better, then you have done data-driven decision making!

Educational Translators – There are some educational practitioners who can do what I have been doing in this post. One can take the high-level, and sometimes annoying plethora of educational buzz-words (see article on buzz-word bingo) and translate them to more common language and vice versa. They have the skill to not only know what the right thing is to do with students, and can explain it in common language, but if necessary they can explain it with the incredibly detailed, sometimes dizzying array of educational or technical buzzwords. You remember your Bloom’s, we would call these educators ones who have “synthesis level understanding”. They not only understand the the whole, and the pieces, but they can take the knowledge apart, rearrange it, and put it back together to make a new thing. I joke with many people that I believe my niche in the education industry is in the small group of us that are “teacher enough to talk to the teachers and geek enough to talk to the geeks.” I am absolutely certain there are better teachers in America than myself. I try to be a great teacher, but I am sure there are professionals out there that have forgotten more than I will ever know about being a great educator. I also carry no illusions that there are many computer people out there that can program circles around me (in fact, I am fortunate enough to call several of these people dear friends). However, in the words of my favorite author, “…if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.” It is my hope that I can be used to bridge the gap between geek and teacher, between ostentatiously large vocabulary toting theorists and solid, “from the gut” teachers. If I can ever be used to get these diverse groups in the room and communicating with each other effectively, then I will have served my purpose in this world of education.

Ostentatiously large vocabulary toting theorists – Sadly in any Aristotlian (Golden) Mean, there is always a good thing taken too far, which becomes a bad thing. We have all met a teacher or administrator, who has all the educational theorists memorized, and can use every educational buzzword in a properly structured sentence, but they can’t for the life of them actually get anything accomplished. I once had a Director of Curriculum that had her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction, and could bury you in a cacophony of vocabulary, but when push came to shove, she couldn’t tell us the simplest step to solve a critical problem. Sadly, these practitioners have fallen so in love with the process of learning, that they have forgotten that for any learning there is a reason why we learn. They were like the students we all chide for cramming the words in their head, so they could get a 100% on the exam, but never really understood the content we wanted them to learn.

Are these things common? I have only noticed a pattern in my life and experience, and I post it here for others to share and add. I look forward to your input!

In my experience, I have noticed a pattern. I believe it to be fairly consistent across the educational landscape of the United States, and I share it here for either gentle confirmation, or violent damnation.

Of all the teachers I have met I believe I can loosely group them into one of four categories. I believe a person can change their position in a category, in fact I believe that if someone in any category is self aware and self reflective enough, combined with concerted effort, any change is possible:

• Tier 1 – The Innovators — These are the truest practitioners of the delicate art of education. They are innovative, always thinking, always growing, always refining what they do to maximize the positive impact on their students. They make mistakes, take missteps, have ideas, and lessons that “blow up in their face” (sometimes literally for those of us Chemistry teachers… yes, kids, Mr. Washburn’s eyebrows DO grow back… -grin- ) They work too many hours, even though they try not to, and there are days that the weight of their calling or the realities of their students lives drop them to their knees in tears. Many if not most of these instructors have found ways to stay “under the radar” quietly working in their classrooms, changing children’s lives for the better, one at a time. They know if they are “discovered” their peers may hate them for “making others look bad” or be jealous of their talents. A process I have, admittedly never understood, even when I was a high school student myself. Many of this type of instructor have actually had other educators work against them on an issue truly good for students & learning simply out of spite. These innovative instructors must stay “under the radar” with administrators as well since in “reward” for the excellence of the educator, the administration may “promote” them out of the classroom, or simply ask them to do so much that they burn out.

•  Tier 2 – Waiting in the Wings — This second class of teachers are the ones who, with just a little help, protection, encouragement, etc. would become the aforementioned excellent educators. For political reasons, they have learned to duck-and-cover very well. They desire more, but the multitude of small assaults build up, in what I tend to call the Lilliputian Effect, and numerous small injuries and pains become overwhelming. They are slowly worn down by the education machine and its politics and disappointments, until they settle in to a place of mediocrity. They want more, but believe they can not or will not obtain it.

• Tier 3 – With enough effort — These instructors are much like the Tier 2 instructors, but they don’t even know where to begin. They want to be good educators, they have just been so beaten by life or the system, that they don’t really ever believe something good is possible. The good news is like the Tier 1 & Teir 2 teachers, these educators have the one, absolutely critical component for success: they want to be good teachers. With enough training, time, encouragement, support, and political protection these instructors can become better than they ever dreamed.

•  Tier 4 – Kickers & Screamers — Sadly, these are the teacher that all of have had at one time as a student, and we tell jokes about now that we are older. The teacher with untenable, illogical rules; the professor who hasn’t bothered to update or improve a single mimeographed worksheet for 20 years; the politically vested teacher who coached little league (nothing against Little League) 15 years ago with the now Superintendent, which they now feels justifies them to procure items they will never use, and literally steal thousands of dollars a year in materiel from the school (not hyperbole, I am thinking of an actual former co-worker as I write). These are the warm bodies taking up space, damaging children every year, not because they lack talent, but because they don’t want to be good teachers, they just want to get their paycheck. These are the people that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., says the teacher’s unions protect that prevent real growth from occurring in education. They will, as the name implies, only be dragged “kicking and screaming” into any change, even if the perfect educational reform came knocking at their classroom door.

How many times as educators have we watched motivational movies like “The Dead Poet’s Society” (a personal favorite), or “Stand and Deliver”, or recently “The Ron Clark Story” and see that if we set high expectations for our students, and then “scaffold” or provide small, attainable, sequential goals to accomplish these high expectations, students will succeed? Why is this so different for us as adults? We excuse ourselves from such growth with ideas like; “I’m too old”, “I’m not a digital native”, (here’s one I have used before) “I don’t have the time”. Didn’t many of us get into education because we believed it was worth it? We didn’t do it for the money, we became teachers because we believed it was worthwhile. That we could make a difference. I sincerely believe the Kickers and Screamers, which in my humble opinion are the only ones beyond saving, are less than 15% of the total U.S. K-12 teacher population. That means the rest of us in that 85% need to redouble our efforts, not to work more hours, or to work harder, but to work together, work smarter, communicate more and more effectively with the teachers in the classroom next to us, or across the lunch table to find ways to make ourselves better. All it takes to be a leader, is the willingness to take the first step, they humility to admit when you have taken a wrong turn, and the gentleness to ask others to come along with you. I hope you will join me and the thousands of hard working, passionate, professional educators to lead today.